Thursday, June 24, 2010
The storms that blew through this afternoon brought a wonderful wave of cool, relatively dry air with them - what a great evening for being outdoors! Given that my legs are definitely feeling the effects of both Greylock and Minnewaska, I opted for an easy ride on the bike path... overall that felt pretty good.
One of the eagles was perched in the dead tree on the river as I rode out toward Lock 7... bright blue sky in the background, lots of sun - I couldn't ask for a better shot, except maybe to be a little bit closer.
Catbirds were singing like crazy as I rode, and I even managed to spot a couple of them before they ducked deeper into the bushes. There was a heron in the bay just past Lock 7 - while I was snapping pictures I think he shifted position the wrong way and got blown off his perch (or maybe he spotted a likely meal and lunged for it) because suddenly he was flapping around and then re-settling himself... afterwards he looked around with either a "how did that happen" or a "nobody saw that, right?" look.
Heading east out of the park I was surprised to see an American Woodcock in the grass right next to the path... he was remarkably calm as I took pictures until I got a little too close, then he flew off into the woods. I wonder if he's the one I'd heard over that way earlier in the year?
When I finally got back to the park for good, I stopped to check out the river and ended up starting a duck with a whole brood of ducklings at the end of the boat launch. While I stood there watching them, two groups of geese came gliding in out of the dusk - adults with sizeable groups of goslings in tow. I guess that's a popular spot for waterfowl to spend the night.
JMH
